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Maccabean Black Priests
“I walk in the footsteps of the Blessed Saint Drusus and I go about the Emperor’s work. At my word the unclean spirit baulks and the heretic withers in shame. Who, then, are you to stand against me?” — Prior Cornelius Agrippa, Maccabean Exorcist Known by some as the Black Clerics or the Ashen Confessors (and in secret by the more fearful nickname of “pyre-crows”), these clerics form loose-knit orders of militant priests organized at the behest of Ordo Malleus to aid them in their work. Such orders are scattered through Imperial space and, although far from common, are a tried and tested weapon in Ordo Malleus’s arsenal. In the Calixis Sector, the Inquisition chose to base their Black Order on Maccabeus Quintus, an often overlooked shrine world and home to a particularly aesthetic and mystical interpretation of the Imperial Creed. It is also a world removed from the intrigues and power struggles of the sector’s Ecclesiarchy politics and, therefore, perfect for their needs. Black Priests are selected from promising candidates taken from the Ministorum’s clergy and chosen for their strength of will, the power of their faith and, in many cases, by dint of survival when confronted by malefic forces in the past. The candidates are then subject to extreme levels of testing and interrogation as if they themselves where suspected heretics, a process some do not survive; those that come through this trial are trained in secret esoteric lore by their masters in Ordo Malleus. Entrusted with knowledge otherwise forbidden, even to others of the Ecclesiarchy, and taught how to focus their will and the purity of their faith to achieve extraordinary things, not least of all the castigation of Daemons, clerics who undergo the “Maccabean rites” are forever changed by the experience, and set apart from their fellows in the Ministorum by the nature of their faith and the dark and secret truths about the nature of reality they now carry. The road of a Black Priest is a hard one and rarely one long-lived, not simply because of the weight of the knowledge they carry, but because they are driven by their calling into the most dangerous of situations against the worst of foes. Most Black Priests find service with the Inquisition either in the direct retinue of a Daemon hunter, or as a specialist Acolyte operating for another Ordo, ready to bring their abilities to bear when the Daemonic is unexpectedly encountered. Should a Black Priest live long enough, it is not uncommon for them to rise to the rank of an Inquisitor Malleus themselves, if they are capable enough. In appearance and demeanor, Maccabean Black Priests live up to their name, dressing in simple black or ashen robes, and eschewing any form of ornamentation or extravagance of appearance other than religious icons and relics---often rendered in simple iron or steel. Likewise weapons and armor are likely to be blackened with pyre ash and their manner is likely to be grim, unforgiving and humorless (although a bleak gallows wit is evident in some). They are fanatics in their cause, but, unlike the firebrand ranting of a Redemptionist, their zealotry often has the quality of cold unyielding stone and dire certainty. 'The Doom of the Ardent Seeker' One of the most recent major incidents attributed to the Pilgrims of Hayte occurred in 799.M41 in the Maccabeus system. When the venerable pilgrimage-vessel Ardent Seeker translated from the warp off-course into the Maccabeus system and failed to answer hails, it was quickly interdicted and boarded by the local picket ships. What the naval armsmen found onboard was an utter horror---perhaps fully nine-tenths of its seven thousand passengers had died in the most appalling and violent fashion. The tenth that remained had been driven mad and tortured in body and soul beyond endurance. Direct orders from the Arch Hierophant of Maccabeus prevented the naval commander from carrying out a frantic order to simply blast the ship to atoms. Instead it was held and soon boarded by a strong contingent of the legendary Maccabian Black Priests and their retinues who purged the once great vessel of the damned and the hidden taint of the warp that infested the decks. Piecing together what little evidence remained, the Black Priests discovered that these unfortunates had been doomed by a single deadly influence. A cancerous demagogue had come aboard and slowly sown first doubt, then insanity and corruption that doomed every living soul aboard the Ardent Seeker—a False Prophet of the Pilgrims of Hayte. Their investigation revealed that this servant of Chaos had, through his dark arts, infiltrated the first naval boarding party that had stepped foot on the ship and was now loose on the sacred soil of Maccabeus Quintus itself. In an almost unprecedented act, the Grand Hierophant himself went before the planet with the news, and with an impassioned oratory fired the zealous hatred of his people against the hell-spawn in their midst. With a single purpose, a million strong mob of Frateris Militia was whipped into a frenzy and conducted a brilliantly successful prosecution of the infiltrator, along with hundreds of other suspected heretics (and not a few innocents mistakenly “captured”) who were purged in a frenzy of zealotry. Official records state that the False Prophet was destroyed, but persistent rumors within the Holy Ordos say that the Black Priests managed the seemingly impossible and captured the diabolist alive to hand him to a secret Malleus Conclave. However, the truth of this is likely to never be revealed. 'Alternate Career Rank' In order to qualify for this path, the character must be a Cleric who either originates from Maccabeus Quintus, or with the permission (or at the behest) of their Inquisitorial masters is sent to train there during “downtime” between adventures. This Career Path is particularly suited to Clerics who want a more directly combative role against the powers of the warp, or who in their character’s past have survived encounters with the Daemonic. Required Career: Cleric Alternate Rank: 4 or higher (2,000 XP) Other Requirements: You must have less than 10 Corruption Points when this career is taken. Also, you must either originate or have spent time training on Maccabeus Quintus. Note this career is not open to characters with the Mind Cleansed Origin. Special: Encarta Maleficarum (Elite Advance) Some Black Priests, in order to aid them as holy exorcists, are subjected to a secret ritual that Ordo Malleus calls the Encarta Maleficarum. During this ritual, forbidden knowledge is burned deep into their minds, shackled with wards inscribed by occult means directly into the cerebral cortex. This procedure rare and considered a radical one even by the most ardent of Daemonhunters, as the survival rate is not high and, even if successful, the recipient’s life expectancy can be seriously reduced and their sanity eroded. The Encarta Maleficarum is treated as an Elite Advance. Upon spending the XP to acquire it, your character disappears for 1d5 weeks, as the Black Priests put your faith and endurance to the test and inscribe burning lore into your mind. As a result of this procedure’s harmful side effects, you gain 1d5 Insanity Points and you permanently reduce your Toughness by 1d5 and your Fellowship by 1d5. This heavy price buys fearful knowledge and armors you against the whiles of the Daemon: your character gains the Forbidden Lore (Ordo Malleus) skill and the Insanely Faithful talent. Also you gain a +10 bonus on all Tests made to resist torture and interrogation, attempts to read or control your mind and any form of possession. In addition, if an attempt to possess you does succeed, but by less than three degrees of success, the assault or intrusion is blocked by the wards within your mind—it fails and you collapse in a catatonic state for 1d10 minutes.